From: Eric Hellman <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2018 11:56:02 -0500


On Feb 13, 2018, at 7:50 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

I'm actually surprised, in this context, that all libraries aren't
co-sponsoring more projects like UnGlueIt, Knowledge Unlatched, or
SCOAP3. I suppose there is only so much of a budget that can go
towards those endeavors and it may not be scalable.

*******

Indeed, change can seem slow, until it's not.

Here's some hopeful news:

February 16, 2018. Montclair, NJ. The Free Ebook Foundation announced
that its Unglue.it website had successfully raised over $7,000 to
"unglue" two newly licensed Creative Commons ebooks, which are now
available for download. These are the first Unglue.it pledge campaigns
since Unglue.it became part of the Free Ebook Foundation, a charitible
non-profit corporation. Ungluers now have the option to support
campaigns by making charitable donations to the Foundation.

The two ebooks are Jessamyn West's Without a Net: Librarians Bridging
the Digital Divide and Maurice Wolfthal's translation into English of
The Jewish Unions in America: Pages of History and Memories by Bernard
Weinstein. Without a Net was published in 2011 by Libraries Unlimited,
and has been a remarkably useful book about connecting real people to
computers and the internet. Funds contributed by ungluers bought out
the original publisher's remaining digital rights. The Jewish Unions
in America, published by Open Book Publishers of Cambridge, England,
makes Weinstein’s Yiddish text available to English readers for the
first time. It is essential reading for students and scholars of labor
history, Jewish history, and the history of American immigration.

Eric Hellman, President of the Free Ebook Foundation, said "We're very
grateful to the many generous supporters, large and small, who
supported these books and the idea of open access to information.
These results give us confidence that, as a non-profit, we can develop
new ways to fund new and old works into the public commons."

Author and librarian Jessamyn West said "With the assistance of Eric
Hellman, Unglue.It, and 45 ungluers, I'm pleased to be able to offer a
Creative Commons licensed digital PDFversion of my book Without a Net:
Librarians Bridging the Digital Divide (Libraries Unlimited 2011).
This book is a combination of practical and philosophical approaches
to working with digitally divided patrons, much of which is still
useful today. It's more important to me to reach a wider audience than
it is to have the legitimacy of a big publisher and this will help me
do that. I hope people who may have been previously unable to afford
this book can learn from it and help their patrons and people in their
communities. People who do still want a print version will still be
able to get them online in the usual places while supplies last!"

Rupert Gatti, co-Founder and co-Director of Open Book Publishers, said
“After the ungluers’ incredible generosity for The Jewish Unions in
America, we’re excited to begin a new campaign for Janet Hujon’s rich
and vibrant translation of the Indian poet Soso Tham’s masterpiece,
The Old Days of the Khasis. Like The Jewish Unions, we hope that this
valuable translation will fire the enthusiasm of the Unglue.it
community and attract plenty of support.”

The free download addresses for the two ebooks are:

https://unglue.it/work/252946/ for The Jewish Unions and
https://unglue.it/work/113915/ for Without a Net

Eric Hellman
President, Free Ebook Foundation
Founder, Unglue.it https://unglue.it/
https://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/
twitter: @gluejar